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A Recipe for Eating Well

It took me five decades, but I figured out healthy eating: I stuff myself. All these years, I was trying to cut back what I ate, but I needed to do the opposite. Let me tell you what worked for me. It may not work for you, or it might, or it may give you some ideas.  It does involve… Read More »A Recipe for Eating Well

on switch over eye

Multi-factor Authentication Answers the Wrong Question

Two factor authentication. Securing your account with email address, phone number and password. Seriously? When is it too much work to be worthwhile? We shouldn’t be asking how to make our accounts more secure. We should be asking what’s wrong with this system that we live in such fear of having our online accounts hacked. It isn’t bad enough that… Read More »Multi-factor Authentication Answers the Wrong Question

Gardening Season is Open.

Time to start the seeds. I like to grow things, although the amount of effort that goes into it annually varies with what else is going on in my life. The last couple of years there’s been time and space to devote a lot of attention to the backyard veggie patch.  It started with a new yard, with decent sunlight… Read More »Gardening Season is Open.

The Leveraged Lifestyle

It may be nerdy, or controlling, or calculated, but I have an answer to ‘why am I doing it this way’ for everything. For every action I take, there are at least two ‘why?’s. This is how I get the most out of life.  A few, off the top of my head, examples: Walk or bicycle anywhere possible. This one… Read More »The Leveraged Lifestyle

Is it really in your DNA?

Corporations might be legal persons but they don’t have DNA. This expression ‘in our DNA’ is a thorn in the eye of my scientist’s sensibilities when it’s used to describe organizations. I know, it’s just an expression that means something fundamental to behaviour, beliefs or actions. Fair enough as a metaphor. But, I don’t like it. Because of my propensity… Read More »Is it really in your DNA?

Trim. No Caulking.

Not content to conquer white painted trim, I’m moving on to stained wood. It’s like taking the training wheels off, or acrobatics with no net.  One of the marvels of modern construction is caulking. Marvellous stuff for sealing gaps, keeping the cold and water out of where they don’t belong. And sealing gaps. Between the baseboard and the wall, if… Read More »Trim. No Caulking.

array of plastic items - bag, fly swatter, juice and floor

Destructive Creative Destruction

You know the list. The technologies, labelled creative destruction, that changed life as we humans knew it: Fire. Pasteurization. The assembly line. Washing machines. Email. Mobile Phones.  Each of these had a dramatic impact on society, generally decreasing the effort required to do a vital human activity and allowing us to do other, more interesting things1. Should plastic be added… Read More »Destructive Creative Destruction

Inspiring Women

As it’s International Women’s Day, I’d like to mention a few women I admire for their entrepreneurial spirit and accomplishments. My list is based on books I’ve recently read, either by, or about, each woman. I bought the books because I admired each woman and wanted to know her story. A brief summary, in no particular order, of what I… Read More »Inspiring Women

Isn’t Adaptation a Good Thing?

I can’t explain how I just came across this article posted on the CBC website in February, but I’m glad I did. The title and tag-line are evocative : ‘Cities causing genetic changes in plants, animals. Wild things may be changing at a genetic level to survive in modern cities.’ Genetic changes [may have occurred], but not necessarily mutations due to environmental… Read More »Isn’t Adaptation a Good Thing?

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